Why would you want to spend New Year's Eve at home?
Considering I have worked the prior 15 New Year's Eves as the chef and owner of a restaurant, the answer to that question ought to be obvious! If I never see the inside of a restaurant on New Year's Eve, that will be just fine with me. And of course, Annie was over the moon to have me at home. So we headed to the grocery store to see what we could find. I was in a seafood mood, but there's no good seafood in any grocery store around here. The best we could do was to grab a pound of Dungeness crab, wicked expensive and to my East Coast-born and -bred palate, not as tasty as blue crab. So I decided to do a crab risotto.
While standing in the store, Annie started describing an appetizer that she wanted, "something with mushrooms, gooey, and sexy!" Instantly I flashed on a mushroom crostino, so we got some dried porcini, some fresh shiitakes, and a small piece of funky Taleggio cheese to finish the mushrooms with.
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Pashey Sparkling by Trisaetum |
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Leeks and Shiitakes |
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Porcini, Shiitake, Leek, and Taleggio Crostini |
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Who's Happy? |
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Risotto in the Works with Pancetta |
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Mise: Pancetta, Goat Cheese, Crab, and Chives |
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Dungeness Crab Risotto with Pancetta, Chives, and Goat Cheese |